The comparison of the glutathione peroxidase, glutathione, selenium, malondialdehyde and hydroxyproline levels in the plasma of the vitiligo patients and healthy individuals

Vitiligo; which is characterized with the loss of melanocyte and depigmented macular lesions, is a specific skin disease widely seen in the world and in our country. Its' etiopathogenesis hasn't been explained exactly yet. Three basic theories have been suggested at the result of the studies whose purpose was to clarify its formation mechanism; autoimmune theory, neural theory and autocytotoxic theory. Many researchers have determined that, in vitiligo, hydrogen peroxide accumulates in epidermal tissue and this reactive oxygen molecule causes epidermal oxidative stress. Studies published recently have shown that, corruption in the mechanism which occur in the vitiligo are not limited just with the area of lesion but with the whole skin. The researchers have even showed that levels of many parameters related to the disease have changed in the blood as well as in the tissue. Antioxidant system compounds are only a part of those parameters. Levels of many hormones, enzymes, aminoacides and even trace elements change at the same time of the occurence of the disease. As many metabolic paths of the whole skin is disrupted in vitiligo, levels of many parameters in the blood of those patients will probably be affected too. On the other hand, studies have indicated that blood levels of many parameters change during the disease. In this study,using a similar approach we measured the indicators of plasma antioxidant systems such as GSHPx, GSH, GSSG, MDA Se, and Hydroxyproline of the patients with vitiligo. The study was performed both on 30 healthy individuals (mean age 27,93 + 7,14) having no dermatologic problems and 30 patients (mean age 23,66 + 7,49) having vitiligo vulgaris who applied Dermatology Policlinic in inönü University Turgut Ozal Medical Center. The protein contents of samples taken from the patients and control individuals were determined according to Lowry method.In the samples whose protein contents were determined, Lawrence method was used to measure GSHPx activity, Owens method was used to measure the levels of GSH and GSSG, Okhawa method was used to identify MDA level, Arian method was used to measure Se level and Bergman method was used to measure the hydroxyproline level. In the vitiligo, our results show that, antioxidant system is affected by the mechanismal corruptions in the plasma, as in the epidermal tissue as well. In the vitiligo patients, GSHPx, MDA and hydroxyproline levels are higher than those of control group ( p < 0,05); the differences in the other parameters are not statistically significant (p > 0,05). Finally, according to our results we suggest that, supporting antioxidant system contributes a lot to fighting with the disease, and oxidative stress parameters change in the blood of the patients with vitiligo as well as their epidermal tissues.